Coral Reef Sailor Freddie Parkin Wins the 2018 Optimist New England Championship

Blue flight leaders arriving at the gate in the last race of
the 2018 New England Optimist Championships
The New England Optimist Championships were held on October 6-8 at Sail Newport, in Newport Rhodes Island.

This was a substantial event, with over 200 participants in the championship fleet, and with several sailors from the Virgin Islands, Canada, Germany, Bermuda and various parts of the continental US. The New Englands are one of the regional « team trial qualifiers » organized by the US Optimist Dinghy Association (USODA), aimed at ultimately selecting sailors for IODA events - Worlds, North Americans, etc.

The weather conditions were not optimal for this event - and only 5 races were completed, out of the 9 that were scheduled. Among those 5 races, the first and the last one were sailed in light, uneven wind conditions. The races were carried out just near the Newport Bridge, where significant tidal current prevails, which made the racing pretty complex. The sailors were divided in three fleets, with sailors actually competing in just two flights over the course of the regatta - and there were no finals / gold fleet.

While the New Englands are kind of a regional event, it’s worth noting that many of the top Optimist sailors of the country were present. There was for example a substantial number of sailors from Lauderdale Yacht Club and Coral Reef Yacht Club. In the top 15 for example, there were 5 sailors from Coral Reef Y. C., 4 from Lauderdale Y.C. This means 9 sailors out of the top 15 were just from two Florida clubs.

This pattern of strong representation of just those two clubs at the top of the fleets is actually similar as the one that prevailed at the 2018 Opti Nationals, held at Pensacola Yacht Club on July 15-18, where there were 4 Lauderdale Y.C. and 5 Coral Reef Y.C sailors in the top 15.

In the absence of Stephan Baker (USA National champion, North American champion and World #2), the favorite for the event was Tommy Sitzmann (also from Lauderdale Yacht Club, who placed #5 at the recently held Worlds in Cyprus). Yet, the race was won by Freddie Parkin in front of Griggs Diemar - two blue fleet (U13) sailors from Coral Reef Yacht Club. Third was Canadian sailor Andreas Steinitz. First girl was Samara Walsh from Edgartown YC (LISOT). Freddie Parkin clearly dominated the event, and was able to score a DNF in the last race.

Top 15 - Final championship fleet results
A question worth asking is why do the sailors from these two Florida clubs do so well? The answer may be that they are among the very few locations in North America where there is fall and spring training involving 3 sessions per week, including 2 full day sessions on week-ends. Such training intensity, which is not high compared to other sports, is typically not available in most other clubs in the USA (and Canada). Both clubs have a significant number of sailors, including high level ones, so club level training and racing is highly challenging. And both clubs have top level Optimist coaches.  Just these three factors probably explain a large part of the success of the Optimist race programs of these two clubs.

A final comment. The New Englands were typically held in the past in early August, just prior to the CORK Optimist regatta in Kingston, ON. This year’s early October date was actually interesting and provided a racing opportunity relatively late in the season. So it will be interesting to see if USODA continues with this schedule or returns to the previous one.

Next key event in the USA/North America is the Orange Bowl youth regatta, at Coral Reef Yacht Club, with some 239 registrations in the championship fleets, i.e. just a few more than the 208 boats that competed this past weekend at Sail Newport.

See complete results: https://www.usoda.org/

For up to date news and analysis, and interactions / discussions with others, about youth sailing, in the Opti, Open Bic, and other boats - join our FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/optimistopenbicsailing   
Location: 72 Fort Adams Dr, Newport, RI 02840, États-Unis

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